


i would swim all the oceans just to see you smile

by floozylouis



Category: Aquamarine (2006), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cool Surfer Boy Harry, Innocent Louis, Light Angst, M/M, Mostly Fluff, a mixture of aquamarine and the little mermiad and other various mermaid films, cheating ?, i guess, louis is aquamarine, mermaid louis, side Ziam, very stupid and cheesy and hopefully endearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 03:56:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5853130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floozylouis/pseuds/floozylouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If you don't have love, how do you know it exists?" Zayn asked. </p><p>"I saw it once. And I want it." Louis shrugged. His attention was pulled by a loud, nearly obnoxious laugh from down on the beach. Louis' eyes enlarged, he stood up and pointed to the source of the laugh. "With him." </p><p>“Harry?!” Both Liam and Zayn shrieked. </p><p>“Harry.” </p><p>-</p><p>Louis has five days to prove to his father that love exists. Naturally, it's not as simple as he thought.</p><p>(Based on the 2006 movie Aquamarine)</p>
            </blockquote>





	i would swim all the oceans just to see you smile

**Author's Note:**

> okay! so this fic is just completely self indulgent, i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i did writing it !! feel free to let me know what you think, you can catch me on tumblr at [boogielouis](www.boogielouis.tumblr.com)
> 
> thanks to all my pals who helped me out, gave advice, all that jazz :) 
> 
> and yes, the title is from stand up by one direction

 

"Oh my god. Liam, look at him."

"Yeah, yeah. I see him Z. And you don't need to tell me again, I know, he's beautiful, best lifeguard on the coast, his hair is God's gift to this world, he shits rainbows, blah, blah, blah." Liam rolled his eyes at his best friend's infatuation. Zayn stopped peeking at the lifeguard and sat back down in the shade of their umbrella.

"I so do not talk like that. I'm much less nasal. " Zayn reached over Liam's lap to grab a handful of chips. "He's just waiting up there for someone to rescue. He should so be rescuing _me._ What's wrong with this picture?"  Zayn talked, with his mouth full, as Liam opened up one of the magazines that littered the beach towel.  

"Well, other than your _clearly_ excellent manners, this magazine quiz says you might be too obvious. Try being more coy." Liam suggested. 

"I'm being so coy he barely even knows I exist!" Zayn exclaimed, exasperated, lightly smacking his best friend on the arm. 

"Piss off, I'm trying to read."

"Li, do you realize summer is almost over and you haven't been in the water once?" Zayn asked.

"Once would be too many times." Liam responded sharply, looking back down at the magazine. "Do _you_ realize that we've got a week left until you move? I don't want you to leave. I can't do senior year without you."

 "Don't be a dick. I hadn't thought about it for like half an hour. Besides, I still haven't kissed Harry, so you can't get rid of me yet." Zayn smiled. Liam shook his head fondly. "Shit. Here comes trouble." Liam looked over the umbrella to follow Zayn's line of sight, towards a group of girls walking onto the beach. Zayn scowled.

"Did someone order a sand-bitch?" Liam asked under his breath.

 "Oh my god. Did her tits get even bigger?" Zayn questioned with a sigh.

 "The only thing that Taylor grew was the amount of tissue paper in her bra. No one in their right mind would fall for that."  Liam answered. Observing the scene in front of them, they saw the lifeguard, smiling and talking to the girls. He used his hand to push the hair of his eyes.

"What was that?" Zayn asked, annoyed.

 "That was a flick. With his hand. Doesn't count." Liam told him. Harry then rose his arms over his head, stretching them up and over to the side. "Oh no."

 "Don't flex, don't flex don't flex." Zayn wished, just as Harry flexed his biceps at the top of his stretch. Liam and Zayn both audibly groaned and floped on their beach towels.

 "That doesn't mean anything, promise. We made up that test ourselves, it was dumb anyway." With all their combined research of magazine articles and romance novels, Liam and Zayn had come up with 3 basic ways to tell if a guy was into you. The Smile, The Hair Adjustment, and the most important, The Flex. It really honestly hasn't worked out very well for them. Yet. "Harry is just too... nice to everyone. He is so not into her. Who could be?" Liam tried to comfort his friend as they started to pack up their beach set up and head home. Taylor and her friends came up to them as they stood up.

 "You know, you're never gonna get a tan wearing all those clothes." She remarked, looking Liam up and down.

"Yeah, or skin cancer." Zayn said, stepping in front of Liam protectively.

"What? I don't even smoke?" The girl giggled. Zayn and Liam exchanged a look. Zayn grabbed Liam's arm and they walked away, not staying long enough to give her a response.

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

 

"Sorry Li, you know how she is, I have to go back for dinner, and she keeps bugging me about packing up my room."

 "Yeah. Whatever, You'll be back after right? To stay the night?" Liam asked. There was supposed to be a huge storm tonight, and he didn't know if he would be okay by himself. No matter how hard he tried, storms still scared the shit out of him. He didn't even want to think about what he would do once Zayn and his mom fucked off to Florida.

 “Of course. See you later L.”

 When Zayn was home with his mom, or honestly, just anywhere without him, Liam  often found himself quite bored. He would sit by his window, maybe walk down and sit by the pool, and he nearly always had a magazine or a book in his hand. If he was being honest, he was a little jealous of Zayn. Liam didn't have any family to visit, and his grandparents were always busy running around keeping things going properly. He didn't mind though, most of the time.

 While Zayn was gone, Liam ate dinner himself, cleaned his room, and played a round of FIFA on his own.  When Zayn returned, they fell into their usual routine, ate some junk food, took a couple new magazine quizzes, played another game, and fell asleep talking.

 “Zayn. Zayn. “ Liam pushed his friend awake. The storm outside was loud and raging, one of the worst ones Liam had ever seen. He had tried to ignore it without his friend's help, but he just couldn't do it. “Z, wake up, I’m scared.” Zayn mumbled grumpily from beside him, but opened his arm for a cuddle anyways.

“Thanks.” Liam said quietly, a small smile on his lips.

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

 

“This is insane.” Zayn picked up a huge piece of seaweed from the pool deck and inspecting it.  Most of the staff, including Harry, Nick, and both of Liam's grandparents were talking on the deck, probably talking about how they would fix this disaster. Liam had honestly never seen a storm do so much damage in one night. He was about to flick the seaweed out of Zayn’s hand when he saw something shine in the deep end, under all the debris.

“Hey, Z, what is that?” Liam took a step closer to the pool edge, trying to look closer, but his left foot caught on a piece of seaweed. he tried to catch himself or reach back for Zayn, but it was too late. Not one second later Liam felt the rush of water surrounding him. He panicked, he felt like his head was being crushed. Liam knew he wouldn't be able to breathe, but he felt himself gasping for air. He started splashing violently, and distantly he heard voices yelling, but he wasn’t concentrating on them, and then suddenly he was concentrating on arms grabbing him forcefully and yanking,  and then, air. Air. Liam could breathe. He coughed, feeling water coming out of his lungs and hearing the world coming into focus. There were several bodies over him, the two closest being Harry and Zayn. Harry's arms were wrapped around him and his eyes looking awfully worried.

God. Liam was such a fucking loser. His parents were sailors, for crying out loud. He grew up on the sea. His grandparents owned the community pool, fucks sake! And he couldn’t even take a simple fall into the deep end.

Feeling his breath come back shaky, He pushed Harry and the others away.  “I’m fine. Thank you.”  Liam forced a tight smile and Zayn helped him stand. Liam immediately started walking, Zayn rushing to keep up.

“Oh my god. Li, he had his arms, like totally around you. How did his biceps feel? I swear one second later and you would have gotten mouth to mouth.”

“Zayn would you shut up? I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” Of course Zayn didn’t think anything of it. Zayn couldn’t feel the shaking in his bones or the way his head was ringing like the water was still around him. Liam took a deep breath and shook himself out of it as best as he could.  It was just water. Still. Liam was angry, even if it was just at himself. He hadn’t been in that much water for almost 2 years, and Z knew that, but sometimes it’s easy to forget. Sometimes Liam wishes he could forget.

“Oh Liam, I am so sorry. I’m such a terrible friend. Sometimes I just forget about the water thing, you know? I’m sorry. Are you alright?” Zayn looked just worried enough for Liam to forgive him.

“I’m fine.” He sighed and put on the realest smile he could.

“Good. Hey Li, what did you see? Before you fell in?” Zayn asked.

“Oh.” Liam totally forgot about that. “It was shiny, I saw it reflect the light. Pretty big, too.”

“Wanna come check it out later tonight? When everyone’s gone? I promise you won’t even have to go anywhere near the water. Please?” Zayn had a on hopeful smile, and Liam was never any match for his puppy dog eyes. As long as he didn’t have to go in the water, he would be fine.

“Sure, Z.”

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

  


“Zayn? I'm not sure if we should do this, let's just go back inside. My Grandads gonna kill us."

"You worry too much.”

“You don’t worry enough!”

“Five more minutes okay? Let's just check it out.”

Liam nervously played with the hem of his fading New York Yankees t-shirt. His mother had brought it back from a business trip when he was in seventh grade, and four years later he still wore it faithfully. From the edge of the pool deck he started to take a deep breath to calm himself, before something inside the water caught his attention.

 “Zayn, the back corner!”

“Where? Oh.” Zayn leaned in to get a closer look, it was hard to make anything out with all the storm debris still in the pool. "What is that..?”

“I think it’s moving.” Liam took a tentative step backwards. Zayn leaned closer, reached into his back  pocket and grabbed a bag of leftover candy. He cautiously dropped a couple into the water in attempt to lure whatever was in Liam's pool, immediately dropping the bag, retreating his hand and sitting back on his knees.

"What is it?" Zayn asked.

“I don’t…” The boys squinted their eyes at the water.

"Well, I bet I know what it was." An unfamiliar voice came from the far corner of the pool. "I'm guessing it was a merman." It was came closer, breaching the surface. “Hi there! I’m Louis. Nice to meet you. Is this yours…? No? Good. Cherry’s my favourite.” He brought the water-soaked candy to his lips, and as he gracefully leaned back on the pool ledge, a long, beautiful, blue tail flicked up into the air.

"You're..you're.."  Liam struggled to find the words.

"Pardon?" Louis asked, looking innocently at the boys. "Is there something on my face?"

"It's a.." Zayn stared, eyes wide and glimmering.

"Ok. I see we're gonna have to take this slowly. Mer-man. You know, fabled marine creature, half man, half fish, best known for staring into mirrors, sitting on rocks, and obsessing over our beautiful hair." Louis stated, looking awfully smug.

“You speak english?” Zayn asked. Liam was still two steps behind him.

“Of course. I speak every language known on land or sea. It’s a gift. What do you speak?”

“Um.. I got a C in Spanish?” Zayn said cautiously.

“Hmm.” Louis eyed Zayn as he came closer.

"Can I…?” Zayn reached his arm out, almost touching Louis’ tail, but Liam grabbed him and pulled back.

“What are you doing? He could be...dangerous.” Liam whispered.

“Why would he be dangerous?”

“He’s a fictional sea creature… of course he could be dangerous!”

“Um, hate to interupt, but we’re not actually fictional, we’re discrete.” Louis stated. Zayn pulled himself from Liam’s grip to get a closer look. “I’ve never been this close to a human before.”

“Yeah, must be weird for you.” Zayn laughed uncomfortably.

“You can, you know, touch it. If you want.”

“Okay.” Zayns eyes shined as he reached over the pool ledge to run his hand over Louis’ tail. “Ah!” He said, retreating his hand. “It’s slimy." 

Louis looked very pleased with himself. “Thank you! I rub it with kelp and jellyfish twice a day.” He smiled. The Louis proceed to jump out of the water and do a backflip back into the pool, looking like an angel, like it was totally no big deal. He came back to the pool ledge, and grabbed one of Liam’s legs.

“Oh my god ! Please don’t eat us! I’m so sorry! Please let me go!” Liam rushed out in a scream. But Louis didn’t seem to notice, he was busy examining Liam’s right foot.

“Be quiet! I just wanna see what feet feel like.” Louis scolded. “Can you pick things up with this?” Louis held the foot up.

“No- I- Oh my god! Let me go!” Liam screamed again.

“Hmm. Fine.” Louis released the foot, and turned his attention to another cherry candy floating in the pool. He did a quick motion with his hand, and a wave rose, bringing the candy right to him.

“Woah.”

“How did you do that?” Liam asked.

“Oh, that’s nothing. You should see what my dad can do. Now _he_ can make some serious waves. Take last night for example.” Louis bit off a piece of candy.

“That was your _dad_?” Zayn asked. 

“Mhm. He’s mad because I swam away a week before I was supposed to get married off to this stupid mermaid. She’s about as deep as a tidal pool.” Louis rolled his eyes. Before either of the two could answer, a yell came from by the pool shed.

“Hey! Who’s over there?”

“Shit.” Liam said. “It’s Nick. He’s the pool boy, we gotta go!”

“Hide!” Zayn told Louis. The merman grabbed Zayn’s ankle before he ran off.

“I know you’re out there!” Nick called again, starting to walk over with a flashlight.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Louis sounded more mad than panicked.

“We’ll be back tomorrow morning!”

“Promise?”

“Promise! Don’t let him find you!”

Louis gave the pool boy a quick glance and sunk back into the water, unseen.

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

 

The sun filtered into Liam’s room from the window opposite his bed, waking him up. He yawned, and reached over to grab his phone, before seeing the bag of candy on his bedside table.

Oh my god.

Is he insane, or is there a fucking mermaid in his backyard? He nudged Zayn with his elbow.

“Zayn. Zayn, wake up.”

“Mmmph.”

“Zayn!” He nudged him again, harder. When Zayn looked at him groggily, Liam shook the bag of candy in his face. Zayn’s eyes then opened. He looked at Liam. They both laughed, and Zayn sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.

From outside the window, they heard the whirring sound of a huge vacuum.

“Shit.” They both ran to the balcony to get a better look at the pool, which honestly didn’t even look like a pool, the whole thing had been drained out. “Shit.”

“This is bad. This is so bad.” Zayn grabbed Liam’s arm and ran downstairs and outside to the deck.

“What did you do?” Zayn asked Nick, who was holding the pool vacuum.

“I cleaned the pool? I was supposed to, it was filthy from the storm. Just doing my job.” Nick responded defensively. Zayn didn’t respond, only turned to Liam and whispered.

“He’s not in there. Where did he go?”

“It’s not like he could just get up and leave.”

The boys heard an obnoxious knocking sound from the pool shed. They made eye contact, and ran over. Liam opened the shed, and they both ducked, as a tennis racket was whipped at their heads.

“Ah!” All three boys screamed.

“Oh my god.” Louis sighed.”It’s just you. I thought you were the man with that awful sucking machine.” Louis shuddered. “I just about got turned inside out.”

“Wait,” Zayn started. “How did you get in here?”

Louis’ eyes lit up. “With these!” He attempted to hold up one of his new legs, falling over and knocking over several pool supplies.

“No way.” Zayn said.

“My very own pair!” Louis said excitedly, getting himself up off the floor. “Oh! And check this out.” Louis turned around, showing the boys his naked ass, and trying to bend his back to look at it.

“Woah! Chill!” Liam said, shielding his eyes.

“Isn’t it cute?” Louis said.

“Uh.. yeah. Very cute.” Liam reassured him, a little uncomfortable.

“Hey! We gotta get you outta here.” Zayn reached his hand out for Louis to take, changing the subject.

“You should probably give him your shirt.” Liam suggested.

“Why? I’m wearing, like my ugliest suit. What if we run into Harry?”

“It’s your bathing suit, or his birthday suit.”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He took off his shirt and handed it to Louis, who nodded gleefully.

“Thanks!”

Liam and Zayn heard a couple crashing noises, and then Louis emerged, wearing the t-shirt, which looked more like a dress. Louis looked absolutely tiny in it.. He did a twirl, finishing with a huge smile 

“Nice.” Zayn smiled at him, and lead them all in the direction of Liam’s bedroom.

Liam gave Louis a pair of his smallest jeans, and hoped they fit. They were okay, and of course they would do, and Louis was very grateful, but he would have to find much better if he was going to come anywhere near accomplishing what he came here to do.

 

 

“Hey, look what I can do!” Louis said, kicking Zayn on his way by and giggling.

"Stop that. You can't just-" Zayn was interrupted by the shell on Liam's desk vibrating obnoxiously.

"Crap. They found me." Louis sighed and pulled himself off the bed. "That'll be my dad. You know how you can hear the ocean in those? Well, it can hear you too." Louis walked over to the shell and put it to his ear cautiously. A booming voice yelled incoherent noises from the other side. Louis winced, pulling the shell about an inch from his ear. "Yes. I know. I'm in huge trouble. Yes! Okay. I get it. I'm not coming back. There's no way I'm doing it. I told you. I'm finding it. It does _too_ exist. I show you! Just give me a couple days. Please." As Louis spoke to his father, the sunny, cloudless morning was quickly turning into one that rivalled the storm last night, Liam and Zayn looking out the window in bewilderment. "5 Days? Fine. If you prove me wrong in 5 days, I'll come home for the wedding. Yes I'll call every night. Thank you. Goodbye." Louis put returned the shell to the desk and groaned. The clouds quickly began thinning.

"Holy crap." Zayn said to Louis when he joined them on the sea-view balcony. "What was that all about?"

“I'm supposed to getting married in a week.” Louis spoke, sounding defeated. “Can't stand the girl. It's quite tragic really.”

"Don't you get to choose who you get married to?" Liam asked.

“Nope. Not in my father’s kingdom. Especially because I’m gonna be the next king. It’s tradition.” Louis’ voice mimicked his father's on ‘ _tradition’_ , low and booming. Louis had very nearly become too annoyed of the word to say it himself. “We don’t have love where I’m from. We marry who our parents pick. And _I’m_ the outcast because I believe in love.” Louis rolled his eyes.

"If you don't have love, how do you know it exists?" Zayn asked.

"I saw it once. And I want it." Louis shrugged. His attention was pulled by a loud, nearly obnoxious laugh from down on the beach. Louis' eyes enlarged, he stood up and pointed to the source of the laugh. "With him."

“Harry?!” Both Liam and Zayn shrieked.

“Harry.” Louis repeated, an ambitious smile on his face. His eyes looked as if someone had just tossed a fistful of glitter into them. Louis bolted off clumsily down the balcony steps in Harry’s direction before either of the other boys could stop him. Just as he arrived, Harry turned to face his direction, resulting in Louis running directly into Harry's chest.

"Oh...uh, Oops."

"Hi!”

Harry looked back to his friends, obviously confused at the stranger in front of him. Louis smiled, slightly out of breath.  Harry chuckled. “Uh.. Hi.” He smiled uncomfortably.

“Do you love me?”

“What?!” Harry laughed.

“Do you love me?” Louis repeated.

“Um....no? But, I mean, I'm sure you're a really great guy and all but-”

“Boys! You ready?” A voice called from behind them.  Louis didn’t know who it was, but he did know he didn't like them very much.

“I’ll uh... I’ll see you around, yeah?” Harry waved to Louis, running towards the voice. The rest of Harry’s friends followed.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zayn asked as soon as they caught up, his eyebrows pulled together in concern.

“Harry doesn’t love me. Why doesn’t he love me?” Louis pouted.

“No no _no_ , man you can’t just do that. It doesn't happen like that. You gotta work your way up to those things." Zayn reprimanded Louis.

“Well why doesn't he love me? What’s wrong with me?"

“No, there’s nothing wrong with you, I just... it's not...” Zayn paused as a result of Louis’ growing pout. “No, you know what, I’m sure Harry will be very eager towards the idea. We just gotta... warm him up a little."

“So you’ll help me to get Harry to love me?” Louis asked, pulling on Zayn’s arm, quite resembling a puppy.

“Harry’s really, like, popular, Louis, maybe you should pick someone else.”

“Fine." Louis pouted. "Then you won’t get your wish.” He turned away.

“Wait, what wish?” Liam asked.

Louis turned back to face them. “If you help a merman, you get a wish. Any wish you want.”

“Really? Any wish? At all?” Liam's eyes twinkled.

“Uh huh.” Louis waited for their response. Zayn looked at Liam, who nodded feverishly

“Yeah, I guess we’ll help you.” Zayn muttered.

“Yay! Thank you thank you thank you!” Louis pulled both boys into a hug, but pulled back shortly after. “Wait, there’s a catch.” Zayn and Liam exchanged a glance. “My dad, he only let me come on land under one condition. I have to prove to him that love exists. Harry _has_ to tell me he loves me by the end of 5 sunsets.” Louis sighed. “If you don’t wanna help me, I understand.” But in saying that, he still looked up at the two boys sporting his very best puppy-dog face.

“Sure, Louis. We’ll still help you. How hard could it be? I have a whole bunch of magazines we can look at for help." Liam suggested.

Louis’ frown broke instantly. “Well what are you two blowfishes waiting for? Let's go!” Louis grabbed both their forearms and began to run.

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

 

“Okay. Here’s a new one. Fluff and retreat. _Fluff his ego, and walk away._ Seems easy enough.”

Zayn shrugged. “So, like compliment the dude then leave? But I have a hard time believing that would work.”

Liam raised his eyebrows at him, and then stood. “Just... um, okay. Zayn, imagine this. You’re sitting down by the harbour, just minding your own business, and someone comes up to you, simple as this. Just watch.” Liam walked behind the chair Zayn was sitting on and put his hands on his best friend's’ shoulders. “You look _incredible_ tonight.” Liam whispered in his ear, trying his best to sound confident. He dragged his hand across Zayn’s back as he walked fluidly back about the room, not looking back.

“Hmm. Whatever.” Zayn uttered, looking down, a little flustered. Liam joined Louis on his bed, a small, satisfied smile on his lips. Louis looked between the two other boys, Zayn with a blush on his cheeks, playing with the bottom of his shirt, and Liam, looking anywhere in the room but at Zayn. Oh my god. They’re in love with each other. Zayn and Liam are so, totally in love. Louis could cry. This is the _best._ He’s so gonna get them together.

Speaking of love, Louis has new techniques to try out. Why are they just sitting here? He stood up with newfound excitement.

“Lets try it! Let’s go get him right now.”

“We don’t know where he is.” Liam told him.

“I don't care! Let's find him!” Louis demanded.

“Well, the carnival is going on tonight. We weren’t gonna go, but there’s a good chance he might be there.” Zayn added.

“Good! Grab your...what are those called again?” Louis struggled.

“Shoes?” Zayn suggested.

“Shoes! Get a move on!”

 

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

 

The evening light was just turning into a soft glow, and Louis bought his ticket with jittery steps and fiddling fingers. When he spotted the same beautiful, lanky boy he had seen this morning on the beach, he thanked the gods of the seven seas for his luck. Then he cursed them, because Louis had not planned on Harry _actually_ being here. He was across the venue, playing a carnival version of basketball.

“Okay, so remember the plan. Go up, compliment him, then walk away. Got it?” Zayn made sure Louis knew what he was doing as they approached the basketball booth. Louis nodded. He was Prince Louis Tomlinson. He could talk to anyone, pretty human or not. The three boys made sure to make a scene of themselves, laughing obnoxiously as they passed. And it worked, Harry looked up from his game to hear the commotion. “Now Louis!” Zayn whispered and nudged the boy.

Louis ran over to Harry in quiet, light steps. “Wow Harry, you’re really good. See ya later!”

“Wha-” Harry called, but Louis was already gone. He kept his back to the basketball booth, his eyes shut tight. He opened them slowly, and looked to Liam and Zayn.

“Was that okay?” Louis asked.

“You should have fluffed more! I think maybe he didn't-”

“Hey- wait!” Harry jogged up to the group. Liam and Zayn exchanged a look and deliberately fell behind.

“Hi.” Louis said.

“Hi! I haven’t seen you around before today, are you new here?” Harry and Louis fell into step 

“Yes.” Louis smiled. “I’m visiting Liam and Zayn.”  

“That’s awesome! Are you having a good time?”

“Yes. Following you around is fun.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah?” He smiled at Louis. “Hey, do you want this?” Harry offered, gesturing to the stuffed animal in his hands.

Louis nodded enthusiastically. “Thanks!” He grabbed the prize.

“So it’s your first time in Mission Beach?” Harry asked.

“Yeah! My first time on land.” Louis didn’t see anything amiss about it, but Harry laughed. He laughs a lot, Louis noticed.

“Well, then I’d love to be your guide. My parents own a bed and breakfast on the beach, so it’s kind of one of my jobs to help show new people around.” Harry smiled down at Louis. On land, people looked down on Louis, and he didn’t like it. It was better when he could just swim a little above them.

His worries of being of inadequate height were pushed away as Louis cocked his head, looking at a booth selling something cloud-like across the carnival. His eyes stayed locked.

“You want one?” Harry signaled towards the stall.

“Yeah.” Louis told him, nodding his head.

While waiting in line, he noticed the others in front using human money to trade for the cloud looking things. Luckily Liam had taught him how to use the stuff. But when Louis reached for his pocket, Harry stopped him.

“I got it.” He smiled.

After collecting his cloud on a stick, Louis’ first reaction was to rub it on his skin. It looked soft, like the corals he uses to clean his skin back home.

“Oh, um, you like that?” Harry asked, looking amused, but also not quite sure of what Louis was doing, exactly. Louis looked up. He saw the people around him and immediately pulled the cloud down, blushing furiously. How was he supposed to know you had to eat it?

Once he did bring the cloud to his mouth, it was spectacularly delicious. He would _have_ to bring this home to his friends. Harry smiled at Louis once more. “You really are something else, aren’t ya…um,” Harry waited for Louis to tell him his name until he caught the hint.

“Oh! I’m Prince Louis Tomlinson. Or, just Louis I guess. Louis. ” He stood up straighter.

“Glad to meet you, just Louis.” He said, a smile tugging at his lips. “I’m just Harry, Harry Styles.” Harry held out his hand for Louis to shake, but his attention was elsewhere, and not for the first time today.

“What are those, on the water there?”

“Oh! Those are paddle boats. Have you really never been on a paddle boat before?” Louis shook his head. “I could take you for a ride, if Zayn and Liam don’t mind.” Harry asked, looking over towards the others.

“They don’t mind. I promise.” Louis responded, almost too quickly, grabbing Harry's hand and leading him towards the boats.

  


“So, how long you in town for?”

“Five more days.” Louis explained. “Then my dad’s making me come home. It’s all really very unfair.”

“Controlling huh?” Harry continued to paddle the boat, Louis having less success.

“You don’t know the half of it. I can’t even try and talk to him without it ending in a disaster.” Louis sighed and looked in the opposite direction.

“I might know more than you think. My dad and I always fight. He wants me to stay and run the family business, marry a pretty girl, live that kind of boring life. And I wanna take a year off and travel, explore. It’s not like I don’t love Brisbane, I’ve just always wanted to see the world, fall in love, actually _live_ my life. Real cliché stuff, I know.”

“Well, I think it’s sweet.” Louis added the meaning of ‘cliche’ to his list of things to ask Liam and Zayn. “They just don’t get it, do they? Sometimes you have to leave home to know what you really want.”

“Yeah…” Harry paused. He looked at Louis, a small smile on his lips. “I like talking to you Louis. You're different, interesting.”

Louis just blushed, pushing his fringe out of his eyes. The sun was starting to set, and the golden light was peeking through Harry’s curls, and looking at him made Louis’ stomach flutter. Harry was honestly breathtaking. Louis took another look at the sunset. He had a weird feeling he was forgetting something.

“Tentacles. I really gotta go Harry. Like _right_ now. I’m so sorry.” Louis hit his hands on his head.

“Curfew?” Harry asked.

“Something like that.”

“But the sun is just setting, it’s the best time of the day.”

“I know! That’s the problem! Please, can we just go?” Louis started pedaling furiously, almost too fast for Harry to keep up.

“Okay, okay! Um.. let’s talk about something to distract you. You’ve probably heard that we do a bunch of activities and things for the last week of summer! It’s called the Last Splash?” Harry said as fast as he could get out. “It’ll be parties, and activities and that kinda thing. It would be a great way for you to get to know the people here, if you could make it!"

But Louis was much too concerned about other things to focus. He clambered out of the boat, clumsily getting onto the rocks. “Thanks Harry!” He hollered, running and waving.

“Zayn!” Louis yelled again, spotting his friend.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Zayn turned around, anxious.

“Yes! Very wrong! I may have forgot to mention one little teensy detail?” Louis showed them how small the problem was with his fingers. “Well, tonight just happens to be the full moon, and we need to get me to water, or else I’m gonna pop an instant tail. So like, I need to get hidden, like right now.”

“Louis!” Liam shrieked. Louis shrugged apologetically.

“What about Liam’s pool?” Zayn suggested.

Anyone could see him!” Liam scolded.

“Well do you have any better ideas?” Zayn said defensively.

“What about your big city water tank?” Piped Louis. He was full of good ideas today, and quite proud, if he did say so himself.

“I don’t know if we have many other options. I mean, It has enough water in there for you to be comfortable. As long as nobody goes in, it should be decent, I guess.” Liam sighed.

 

They made it to the water tank with seconds to spare.

“So what did you and Harry talk about?” Liam asked from the ground.

Louis looked down from the ladder, nearly falling off. “He asked me if I’d heard of something called the Last Splash?”

“Really? That’s great Louis!” Liam praised. “That means he wants to hang out with you.” Louis smiled down at Liam. “The Last Splash is a whole week of really cool stuff here on the beach that we have every year. Like, you know the last splash of summer.” Liam chuckled softly. “You _have_ to come with us.”

Louis paused for a moment. “Do you really think I can get Harry to fall in love with me in a week?” He asked softly.

“I really hope so Louis. But if he doesn’t, he’s definitely missing out.” Zayn did his best to comfort Louis, offering a small smile.

“All right.” Louis nodded. “Oh! I’ll need things to wear. No offence Liam, but your old jeans don’t really cut it for a prince.”

“Yeah, sure thing, we’ll head into the city tomorrow and see what we can find!” Liam offered from the ground. “Goodnight Louis!”

“Goodnight!” Louis called down. Zayn gave a wave and started to shut the tower door. “Wait, Zayn?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” Louis smiled at him, hoping that his appreciation was showing through on his face

“You’re welcome Louis, sleep well buddy.”

Louis sighed, submersed himself under the water and immediately relaxed. He had never been so tired. He was trying hard to go to sleep, but images of Harry and his curls and his too-loud laugh and his sparkly eyes kept floating around Louis’  head. He took deep breaths and tried to convince his mind to sleep. He had another long day ahead of him, after all. Just thinking about it he could feel the excitement prickling under his skin.  

 

Louis willed himself to count salmon, but after the jumping fish began to grow long hair and bright green eyes he gave up any hope of sleep at all.

 

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